Think Wink.

Here is a story I heard from R. C. Sproul about justice and mercy and gratitude.

One semester, “Dr. Charles” was giving the beginning syllabus for the start of the class of 250 freshman at the seminary he taught at. He told the class that on September 30, October 30, and November 30, they had a paper due at 12:00 pm. Failure to have the paper turned in on time would result in an automatic F for the assignment. The prof. asked if the class understood the assignment deadlines and consequences for late work and they said yes.

When September 30 came, 225 of the 250 students turned in their assignment. Dr. Charles asked the remaining 25, standing at the back of the classroom, why they didn’t have their homework. They said they failed to properly make the transition from high school to college and utterly failed. The professor decided to be gracious because he remembered what it was like to be a freshman in college. When they asked for one more day, he gave them two. But he warned the whole class not to push him on this issue.

On October 30, only 200 of the 250 students had a paper to turn in at the deadline. Dr. Charles asked the 50 students why they didn’t do the homework and they said they had too much going on with other classes having mid-terms and papers due all at the same time. Again, Dr. Charles gave them two more days but warned not to test him on this issue again.

November 30 came around and only 100 of 250 students had a paper to turn in. The professor began to ask individual students why they didn’t have a paper. The firs student he asked, we shall call him John, said, “Come on professor, I’ll have it for you in two days.” He asked the next student, we shall call him Chris, and he said, “I don’t have it.” So Dr. Charles pulled out his grade book and began to give every person who did not turn in their paper an F on the assignment. John protested, “That’s not fair!” Dr. Charles asked, “You want justice? Did you turn in your October paper on time?” John answered, “No.” Dr. Charles then marked out the grade he had given him and put an F for the October paper grade.

The point of this story is manifold. One point is that the students took grace for granted. They counted on Dr. Charles to let them have the extra two days. Second, grace is owed to no one and justice is owed to everyone. The professor said if you don’t have your paper in on time, you fail. At no time did the professor have to give a single student the extension without a penalty. All he had to do is give him an F.

Related posts:

Edwards, Mercy, Fairness, and Predestination

Is God obligated to give mercy to all in any way?

Justice and equality.